22 January 1993
BY FAX
SECRET
Mr Michael Sze
Secretary for Constitutional
Affairs
Hong Kong
CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: COMPOSITION OF THE ELECTION COMMITTEE
1.
We were very interested to read the memorandum discussed in
ExCo on 15 January setting out alternative models for the Election Committee, and the record of discussion in ExCo (your
telno 73). I am pursuing separately the Governor's request for an FCO legal view on the one man one vote issue and will let you
have that soon.
2.
Since ExCo will not be returning to the Election Committee
issue until 2 February we have been giving the matter some thought here, to see whether we had any points which might be of use in your continuing discussions. A decision on whether the Governor's package should be amended before tabling in LegCo will
in the first place have to be taken in the light of ExCo's
advice. If the Governor decides to accept advice to change his proposals, it will then be necessary for the Secretary of State to consult OPD (K). At this stage we are offering simply an input
to your deliberations.
3.
The main arguments for putting the Governor's proposals
forward to LegCo unamended on their essential points are that a major change would run the risk of losing liberal support and
would cause presentational problems (U-turns etc). Both these
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SECRET
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